Baghdad Filmschool - How to survive as an independent filmmaker in Iraq

Iraqi cultural event on June 28

On Sunday June 28, 2009, a Iraqi cultural event takes place in Delft, The Netherlands. The event is organised by the Iraqi Social and Cultural Society of Delft, Iraqi Democratic Youth Union Netherlands, the Iraqi Women’s league and the Nyama Foundation. Dutch people can familiarise themselves with Iraqi culture. Iraqi’s will wear their traditional clothing and will perform folk songs and dances, like chobie and debka. A well known Iraqi singer, Wisaam Ayoeb, will be performing at the event as well, accompanied by an ancient instrument called the Alsatoor.

Furthermore, Iraqi items and photographs from Iraq will be exhibited and Iraqi dishes will be served. The activities will take place between 12:00 h and 18:00 h. Location of the event is Sardinoweg 169 in Delft.

The Iraqi Social and Cultural Society organises several activities throughout the year. Its objectives are to raise awareness of the Iraqi cultural heritance and the current events in Iraq, the celebration of National holidays, to establish arts and sports committees and to organise activities especially for women. The society is based at Wijkcentrum De Hofstee in Delft, The Netherlands.

Iraqis and Cinema

“There is no Iraqi cinema, nor was there a real Iraqi cinematic tradition before 2003.” This is the answer some Iraqi directors give when it comes to Iraqi Cinema in the film Iraqis and Cinema (directed by Khalid al Zhraou). This film gives a nice overview of cinema in Iraq and the future of Iraqi film production according to the interviewed directors. (For another short written history of Iraqi Cinema see this site)

One of the views is that Iraq will become a fertile ground for cinematic production, which indeed is the case as the growing number of Iraqi films at international and arab festivals shows. Reel Festivals in Edinburgh, Scotland, this year presents Reel Iraq, with music, cinema, discussions and art exhibitions. More than 12 Iraqi films have being showed at this festival, which started 14 May 2009.

The 9th edition of the Arab Film Festival in Rotterdam, the Netherlands will feature about 5 Iraqi films and starts at the 10th of June 2009 (ends 14 June).

Iraq season at Al Jazeera’s Witness Program

Documentaries about Iraq are rising. About a month ago, Witness, the documentary program of al Jazeera English, aired a special Iraq season. “In a special series of films, Witness highlights some of the untold stories of the ordinary people trapped in the middle of the crisis. The Iraq season recounts stories of pain and horror but also stories of courage and hope.” 

From widows to boxers, from life on the streets of Baghdad to the Garden of Eden, all films can be watched online.

Landed in Baghdad

We have had a very good day today. I am traveling together with my producer who speaks fluently Arabic and has traveled to Iraq several times before. Her name is Esmeralda and she is based in Cairo. Baghdad looked much more smoother than we expected.  We arrived at Baghdad Airport around 12 o’clock. The big question of the day was: are we going to wear our bullet proof vests? We decided to put them on underneath our abaya (black overcoats). It looked very elegantly, nobody noticed anything. Our taxi driver thought we were mad, he had to laugh. He says it is much better now in Baghdad, only a few car bombs here and there. Nothing serious.

When I called Kasim on his mobile, he all of a sudden stood in front of me in the lobby of the hotel. He also thinks it’s going much better here. Nightlife is picking up, bars are opening until late at night, something nobody could imagine a year ago. Now you can find a liquor store on every corner of the street. It is really going well Kasim says, and most importantly, it stopped raining!

Tomorrow, we are going to visit him at his school. There will be 20 new students waiting for him, they all want to become a film maker. We can’t wait to meet with them……